Kindergraduation

Jordyn's kindergarten year was a very good experience for her! She absolutely adored her teacher, Ms. Kennedy and learned many new things that she would come home and tell us all about. Her reading and writing skills increased by leaps and bounds. I am amazed by her progress! The end of the year culminated with a song-filled morning kindergarten graduation.

Here she is in the middle of the pack singing, "The World is a Rainbow". I remember singing this song when I was in elementary school. ☺

Getting ready to sing "A Toody-Tot" and hanging out with her buddy Nazir from Pre-K. He's a great friend to Jordyn!

This is Ms. Kennedy. Jordyn says, "She is beautiful and nice and she loves me a lot each and every day! She taught me about things like being nice to people and she loves when I listen to her. She likes to talk about things that are really good like writing center and home center. I love Ms. Kennedy two thousand!"

We love you little one.♥

Jordyn's First Straw Hole

I tried my best to not be such a freak about Jordyn's first loose tooth. I really did. Good intentions...

In the end, after over two weeks of that tooth jiggling, wiggling, and tormenting me, I had Bryan hold her arms while I jerked it out quickly. I swear that tooth was taunting me. Jordyn was actually happy that I got it out - I promise.

In this photo you can see that Jordyn had been avoiding brushing around the loose tooth for awhile. Actually, don't look. It's not pretty...

Here she is with her trophy. I doubt there's a kid out there who was more excited to lose her first tooth. ♥

Stake Conference Shout-Out

We attended Stake Conference on Sunday.

We expected to see old friends from 5th ward. We expected to be uplifted by some great speakers and beautiful music. We expected to have sore buns after sitting for 2 hours on folding metal chairs.

We didn't expect Cara to be mentioned in a talk. Seriously.

Sister Gennell Jones was Cara's primary teacher in 5th ward when the stake realigned two years ago. Two years ago?! She is now the 1st Counselor in the Stake Relief Society. She prefaced her comments with, "I was teaching primary a few years ago and there was a young lady in the class who, I hope won't mind me sharing this..." My ears perked up and I thought, "Could she be talking about 5th ward?" She was speaking about testimonies and she said something to the effect of how she was impressed with Cara's ability to have a strong testimony even though she was the only member of the church in her whole school. You should have seen Cara sit up quickly and look around shocked that someone would remember her! People around us started turning around and pointing even. It was completely unexpected.

It reminded me again of how blessed I am to be the mother of these two sweet girls. It brought up a good discussion about how others ARE watching and paying attention to what we say and do. It was almost as if I watched Cara's self-esteem rising. Awesome.

Sometimes I feel that I don't deserve them. We'll see how I feel after we get through the teenage years. :) And actually, we sat on the last row of cushy chairs...

Whirlwind Weekend

Many months ago I agreed to go on a scrapbook retreat with some of my oldest, dearest friends. The dates happened to fall on my birthday weekend and I figured that would be a nice birthday gift for myself. As the date came closer things started accumulating for the same weekend and I started regretting the decision to go on the retreat.

Here's a list of all the things I missed while I was gone this weekend:

• Bryan got tickets to the Ranger's game Friday nights. Jordyn managed to make it through a whole game and they even stayed for the fireworks.
• My school's Family Fun Day. Only THE best school carnival you've ever seen. Complete with ginormous rock climbing wall and Cara performed a flag routine with the Ensemble girls and a dance routine with some friends.
• Cara's volleyball game where I'm told she was a rockstar.
• Jordyn had a friend's birthday party to go to.
• My dear friend's oldest child, Charlie, got baptized on Saturday night.
• Both of my daughters bore their testimonies in church on Sunday. SO sad I missed that one!

Needless to say, Bryan had some serious running around to do to keep up with the weekend's activities...

While I did miss out on way too much family time, I did enjoy myself immensely.

• I completed all the work I took with me. I honestly didn't think I would get as much done as I did so I could've brought more to work on.
• I spent more time laughing this weekend than I have in a LONG time. My face hurt from laughing not long after I arrived.
• I got a break from the hustle and bustle that each weekend seems to bring whether I'm ready for it or not.
• Had many deep conversations about life and children.
• I actually slept in until 9:30 yesterday morning. I can't remember the last time that happened!
• Bryan made dinner Sunday and Cara baked and frosted a cake for me.

It really was a great weekend! Can't wait to do it again!

All I Can Say is Wow...

This is what it looks like when your 11-year-old misreads the recipe...

These are my Grandma Perkins chocolate chips cookies. Instead of a cup and a half of flour, Cara only put in a half cup... I think it's hilarious that the chocolate chips are resting on top of the flat, flat, flat cookie crisp.

Is it bad that I ate some anyway? ♥

Excuse the picture - it's with my phone camera...

Snow Much Fun!

So it's nothing compared to the slamming the east coast is taking but for Texas it's a BIG deal!

Bryan says it's the most snow he's ever seen here and he's a lifer...

We've got 8 inches of snow and it's still coming down. School was cancelled for tomorrow before we even left the building today. That's a first!

Our usual Texas snowman is a foot or so tall...

Jordyn and our neighbor buddy Cole.

Just don't eat the yellow snow, right grandma?

I don't know why she thought this was so fun but she slammed numerous snowballs on her own head...
That's a full-on Daddy snow angel. Love it!

The is the backyard around 4 this afternoon. There's so much more now - it's intense!

River Trails Performing Ensemble

Cara is in her school's performing ensemble. The group made up of 5th and 6th graders sing, dance and play musical instruments. The kids practice at least once a week during their recess and then every Wednesday after school for an hour. Our music teacher, Mrs. McKenna, is very dedicated. I wish I would've taken a picture of the whole group but I was focused on my own cutie...Playing the xylophone (only it's not an ordinary xylophone - it has a special name that's escaping me right now...)

Here they are doing a hand/body-slapping, stomping rhythm dance. In the background you can see the buckets the boys did a "bucket song" with. It was really cool!

Here's a short video of Cara's solo in the "Tropic" song and then everyone joining in. She really enjoys being a part of the ensemble group!